


Book 1: Mission Mostly Improbable

by theSpacedOutCadet



Series: Heroes: New Blood [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: I love my boys, I made up some OCs and here they are, I took some liberties with timelines and ages, M/M, Original Character(s), Pining, a rom com adventure roadtrip, and phobias, enemies to friends to mutual crushes, haha i dont know how to tittle or tag, i accidentally maybe made my own otp oops, i try to stick to the established storyline in TOA (emphasis on try), it gets pretty fluffy, latin cussing, portrayals of panic attacks, some real bad jokes in here, sorry there are so many tags this is hard and i dont know what im doing, the boys are gay just a heads up, wacky adventure shenanigans
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-13
Updated: 2018-10-02
Packaged: 2019-05-21 22:36:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14924169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theSpacedOutCadet/pseuds/theSpacedOutCadet
Summary: Alec is busy trying to live up to the expectations of everyone around him, including his mentor, Reyna. But training to be part of the next generation of demigod heroes is a hard job, especially when a mystery crisis is causing problems in the legion. But Alec has a plan which will surely succeed, unless a certain troublemaking son of Fauna finds a way to mess it up like he always manages to do to Alec's plans. With his insubordinate rival determined to stick around for the adventure, Alec might be in for more than he bargained for, or can handle on his own. Especially if certain secrets slip out along the way.Jax is tired of dealing with the gods' magical destiny crap. Honestly, he'd much rather work on his latest prank idea. Unfortunately the universe has decided to mess with him by roping him into this year's Important Prophecy and sending him off on a quest with the world's most uptight centurion. But hey, at least it's fun to annoy Alec. Forced to work with his prissy rival for the greater good of a legion he never really fit into anyways, how will Jax handle the situation? What secrets will be revealed? What unwilling bonds formed? Even a boy who catches occasional glimpses of the future couldn't tell you.





	1. The beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah so, this is a fairly short chapter, and just for everyone's information I played around with the timing and ages a bit bc I figured the demigods needed a break and also this just fits better! So the trouble with TOA starts two years later in this instead of like 6 months and everyone is now two years older (making Reyna 18 and Frank 17).  
> I tried to make everything as accurate as possible as far as like, major villains and plot stuff goes within the TOA, but I had only read the first two books while was writing this (things may change along the way and I might edit certain parts). 
> 
> Thanks for sticking with me through my first fic y'all!!! (more notes at the bottom)

Alec stumbled down the crest of a hill, cursing and brushing blond bangs out of his eyes. Sharp twigs and bushes snagged his clothes and scratched his skin as he sped dangerously down the steep incline. Every so often he would catch glimpses of the picturesque bay area view through the sparse treeline, and he could hear the sounds of cars on the highway very close by. His instinctual homing beacon was going crazy and he knew, deep in his stomach, that after months of hard travel he was almost to his final destination, close enough to taste it. To him the fumes of the highway had never smelled so sweet.

  
He paused to collect himself for a second and leaned against a young tree. With how heavy his legs felt he wouldn’t be able to run for much longer, but hopefully he wouldn’t need to. Every single one of the small scrapes and bruises that covered his arms and legs seemed to throb in unison, providing a dangerous distraction from his task.

  
A sound like the scrape of a metal razor over stone came from behind him, and he whipped around to face it, blues eyes wide and roving the underbrush. He saw the rustling of branches nearby that meant the monsters were getting close, zeroing in on his location.

  
He almost cried out in exasperation. He was so close, he had come so far, all the way from Texas to California. But that would hardly matter if they caught up to him. He was once again forced to remember his two months of training with Lupa and the wolves in Sonoma, she had taught him to never, ever show his fear, even if it threatened to overwhelm him. “Because your enemies would do it sooner” she had promised.

  
So Alec put on a brave face and dashed the last few meters to the road, stumbling out onto the pavement. It seemed like just a regular covered overpass, the battered sign above his head read Caldecott tunnel. A chain link fence separated him from the complex of apartments on his right. Everything seemed normal. He would have overlooked this place completely if not for his pinging inner radar and the two kids in armor standing out in front of the maintenance tunnel entrance in the median of the highway.

  
There was a girl and a boy, though honestly it was hard to tell with the helmets, shields, and armor. The girl had brown braids peeking out from under her helmet, and the boy had a pair of curved golden swords on his belt. They hadn’t spotted him yet but Alec knew right away that they were guarding what he had been looking for. He stumbled across the highway, somehow without being hit by a car. The girl looked over with wide eyes and elbowed the boy.

  
He turned as well and quick as lightning, unsheathed his swords. “Hey! Stay away!” he yelled.

  
Alec briefly wondered if the boy was shouting at him, but his eyes were on something behind… “Oh no.” He turned just in time to see the stinger of a massive scorpion tail lash out towards his face. If not for his battle instincts, he would have been pulverized right there. Instead he ducked down just fast enough to avoid the swing. For three elephant-sized arachnids, those scorpions sure could move quietly.

  
Alec rolled away, fast as he could, as another’s tail jabbed at him. It hit the pavement and stuck there. Alec got to his feet and sprinted the rest of the way across the road. He prayed to whatever gods were up there that the insects would get squashed by a speeding car. However, the cars simply honked a lot and swerved around the bugs, like they were used to having giant scorpions on the highway. The wolf mother had told Alec that mortals saw only what they wanted to see, with a little help from what she called, “The Mist”. He wondered what they did see if that was the case. Maybe a few stray dogs? Really, really big, evil dogs.

  
Alec finally made it to the door of the tunnel that the two kids were guarding. “Hey! Are you alright?” The boy grabbed his arm as he tripped. Alec’s breath hitched suddenly, the boy gripped him right where his cut was.

  
A few days back he had gotten grazed by one of the scorpion's tail barbs right after he had finally managed to kill one. Their shells seemed harder than titanium, and could only be killed if they went under enormous amounts of pressure, or if you happened to get lucky and hit one of its weak spots. Alec had managed to kill one by sticking a javelin from a track event in Arizona into one of the few chinks in it’s armor. However, the cut on his bicep was a painful reminder of the encounter. It was half a foot long, green from poison, and it refused to heal or even stop bleeding.

  
The boy gaped when he saw it, “Oh! Sorry!” he yelped, “Chelsea, he needs help,” He turned to his companion, but unfortunately, the girl named Chelsea had just been body slammed by the nearest bug into the concrete wall with a sickening crunch. Then the exoskeleton clad monstrosity turned to face them, mouth dripping yellow foam and pincers buzzing menacingly, with it’s buddies right behind it.

  
The boy cussed in what sounded like latin. “Go through the tunnel, it’ll lead you right to camp!” he shouted to Alec. He then ran right between two of the bugs and swung downwards with his swords, one bounced off harmlessly, but the other stuck in the third scorpion’s back. The creature hissed and backed off, trailing yellow sand from the wound, and taking the golden sword with it.

  
Alec had to admit, the boy had incredible aim to hit one of the arachnid’s weak spots, but throwing his weapons away didn’t seem like the smartest battle plan. Maybe he just hadn’t counted on the scorpions’ incredible endurability. Whatever the case, he charged at them once more. He was doubtlessly very brave, but he had to retreat the second after as one scorpion snapped his remaining sword up and tossed it to the side.

  
Alec hoisted up the unconscious Chelsea and threw her arm over his shoulder so he could drag her through the tunnel and towards whatever “camp” the guy had mentioned. The boy rushed over to help, he grabbed Chelsea’s other arm and they raced into the tunnel, slamming the door shut behind them.

  
“That won’t hold them long” Alec told the other boy, “I saw them rip through a ford prius back in Napa.” the boy looked over at him, and Alec caught a glance of silvery eyes under dark feathery hair as he nodded. Alec frowned as he glanced around the tunnel, the farther they went into it, the less it looked like a maintenance tunnel at all. Instead of fuse boxes and metal pipes, the walls were covered with roman tile frescos and reed torches that gave off no smoke. They finally burst out into the sunlight at the other end and Alec was absolutely shocked with what he saw.

  
A city that looked fresh out of the pages of a history book lay below the in the valley, with red tile roofs and winding streets. A river curved around the valley in the shape of a G, going past what looked like a chariot track and an aqueduct. Crouched in front of the city stood a military encampment, with earthen walls, trenches, and spikes. Alec gaped for a moment before remembering why he was there.

  
The other boy nudged him. “I know it’s impressive at first but we have to make it across the little Tiber.” Tiber, that rung a bell in Alec’s head, where had he heard that before? They moved off.  
They were almost to the river when two scorpions emerged from the tunnel. They had left the third one behind to deal with the blade in his back apparently.

  
The other boy cursed again and shouted, “Hurry!” That hardly seemed like a necessary warning to Alec, but he tried to speed up. They were almost to the river when the arachnids caught up. Alec could see kids in armor shouting to each other and frantically running up and down the walls of the encampment, readying what looked like a giant crossbow and a catapult, but he could also see that they would never make it in time to save them.

  
The boys were finally forced to stop at the river’s edge, from where they were standing the river looked deep, and the current fast. Alec could see a bridge a few meters over to their left but the scorpions chose that moment to catch up to them, scuttling down the hill faster than should have been possible. Alec and the other boy were cornered and would never make it through the fast flowing current dragging Chelsea along. But they stood defiantly, side-by-side, prepared to face the worst. Except that Alec wasn’t feeling very defiant, he felt like an ice cold vise was slowly wrapping around his chest. His feet refused to move as fast, and his breathing shortened. He could feel his hands shaking, so he wrapped them into fists.

  
“Hey!” the dark-haired boy yelled, “come and get us bug brains!” The scorpions did not like that, and they did come to get them, not looking too happy about it either. Faster than Alec could follow, the biggest one lunged at the boy with the silver eyes. He leaped back from the snapping pincers just in time to be hit by the tail. The angry arachnid scored a deep, long gash on the boy’s leg. He collapsed instantly, the pain and poison wracking his body. Alec helped him up and dragged him back before he could be finished off.

  
As the insects circled him he crouched in front of the two other barely conscious kids and tried his best not to give in to the icy fear in his chest. “This is it,” he thought miserably, so close, but it wasn’t enough. At least he would go down fighting.

  
The scorpion lunged and he raised his arm to shield himself and the others. Time seemed to slow as he waited for the hit, but it never came. Instead a bright flash suddenly seared the insides of his eyelids, and when he opened them black spots danced in his vision. An arc of light was slowly fading around him, golden orange and glowing. The scorpion that had lunged at them stumbled back wildly, blinking its compound eyes to clear its vision, it seemed just as confused as Alec was about the light.

  
The weak sunshine streaming through the clouds felt warm on Alec’s back and his cuts and scrapes didn’t seem to hurt as much. Most importantly, the panic that had gripped him was starting to come loose, and it felt like he was shedding a lead overcoat. He got to his feet shakily, and the scorpions around him hesitated, waiting to see what would happen next. Alec felt crazy, but he slowly raised his hand, willing the light to come back. A new beam flickered to life in his fingers, curling like a whip. He flicked his wrist experimentally, just to see what would happen. The beam of light whistled and snapped just like a regular whip, moving exactly how light was definitely not supposed to move.

  
Alec lashed out at the bugs and they retreated further. They were creatures of darkness, even the mild sunlight on an overcast morning hurt them, but this light was like pure condensed sun beams.

  
Alec got them to back farther away from the two other kids, slowly making progress. It took every last ounce of his concentration to keep the light in this form, if he started to lose his focus even for a nanosecond, he knew it would disappear. Once he had backed them up a few yards, he heard it, the slight whistle flying right towards them. At the last second, he dived out of the way and let his whip of light fade out.

  
Alec tumbled out of the way as a huge crash sounded behind him. He looked back to see that a giant flaming arrow had pierced the shell of the first scorpion, and a boulder had crushed the second. He got up and stood in shock in front of the two empty shell husks, blinking slowly to see if that had really just happened. The monsters that had chased him for so long were finally defeated.

  
Just as Alec was letting out his breath of relief, there was another flash of light behind him. He turned to see if it was another flaming arrow, this one directed at him. But it wasn’t, and what he saw instead shocked him further.

  
Sun rays collected right over a patch of grass like some huge child was holding a magnifying glass over them. The beams crossed and shifted, compressing until they were so blindingly bright that Alec had to look away. When he glanced back he saw a shield lying on the grass, a ring of burned plants radiating around it.  
He stumbled over to it, dazed and confused. He gripped the rounded edge and hoisted it up to get a proper look. Smoke curled off the metal but it didn’t seem to bother him. A golden sun was emblazoned on the center, it’s rays radiating outwards in a twisting design. When he slipped his arm into the leather grip on the inside it fit him perfectly. It was light, but still sturdy enough to provide protection. He stared at it for a few seconds, maybe he was going into shock and hallucinating. Maybe he’d blink and everything would disappear, but it didn’t. This was all very real, as real as the shield now strapped to his arm.

  
Alec was ripped from his daze when he heard footsteps behind him. He turned and saw a few of the kids who’d been up on the walls before rushing towards him, two girls and three boys. Two of the guys picked Chelsea up, and the girl with red hair helped the boy with silver eyes to his feet. The red-haired girl brought a flask out and poured some silvery looking liquid on his leg. He hissed and gritted his teeth but didn’t move. Another, taller boy and the last girl strode over to him. The boy had a red-stained mouth and was drinking what looked like cherry kool aid from a water bottle.

  
The girl however, she was intimidating, she wore full armor and a glittery purple cape, her long dark braid was tossed over her shoulder and her eyes gave off a perfect wolf glare. Two metallic dogs trotted at her feet. They ran ahead of her and up to him, the silver one sniffed his leg and the gold one nudged him towards the others.  
Alec let himself be led, and hesitantly stepped up to the boy and girl.

  
“That was some fight!” The boy gave him a lopsided grin. “Name’s Dakota, centurion of the fifth, and I hope I can convince you to join up kid. You have some moves.” The girl silently regarded him.

  
Her posture was that of an alpha, her eyes were calculating and intimidating. “And I am Reyna, praetor of the twelfth legion. I presume that Lupa sent you?” It wasn’t really a question, more of a challenge. She wanted to see if he had what it took, and although he could feel the ache in his chest that meant his panic had not yet fully receded he stood up straighter. If you learned one thing training with wolves, it was not to show weakness.

  
“Yes, my name is Alec Rayes, I trained with Lupa and she sent me to find you,” He stated.

  
Reyna nodded. “You’ll be formally announced at evening muster. For now we can find someone to show you around.” She gestured for him to follow as she turned and started to walk off, “Welcome to the twelfth legion Alec.”

 

_ Three years later _

 

Alec loved his job, he loved the third cohort, he loved the legion, and he really loved New Rome. The third was like his family, he’d defend them until the end.  But if there was one thing he did not love about being centurion of the third cohort, it was dealing with Jax Evans. 

 

For as long as he had been centurion, Jax had acted as bothersome as possible. He constantly left messes that Alec had to clean up, and somehow the cleanup did always fall to him (a lot of the time it involved glitter too). No, Alec definitely did not love dealing with Jax.

 

At first Alec had liked the other boy, he had been the first friend Alec had known in the legion, even vouching for him at his first muster and welcoming him into the third cohort. They had been good friends for a while, but Alec started moving up in the legion, and Jax had stubbornly stayed put. He was a child of Fauna the nature goddess after all, as he used to say, of course he was a little wild.  Jax was not the ideal roman soldier, he used a pair of longer swords instead of a standard gladius, (though no one could deny that he had the skill to do so), he liked to pull pranks, and he had always chafed against the legion's strict rules and traditions. 

 

Alec had to admit that he had secretly agreed with Jax on many of his points about the old rules, but being a leader meant putting forth the best possible aspect of yourself and being able to compromise, even if you didn’t completely agree sometimes. You always had to put your soldiers first. And Alec strove to be a good leader, he could show no weakness, even to himself, especially to himself. 

 

He shook the thought away. He hefted his scutum shield and walked on. It technically wasn’t legion issued but he carried it always. It had been a gift from his father, Sol, god of the sun. Alec had never met his father, but he carried the shield. It symbolized his unwavering sense of duty, or sometimes it felt more like a peace offering. 

 

He marched on, scowling at the line of barracks. He was  _ so _ not in the mood to deal with Jax and whatever he’d done this time. He could clearly remember Melody running up to him in the middle of a latin lesson and pulling him away from the class. As one of the head medics at camp she had as much authority as any centurion.

 

“What did he do this time?” Alec had sighed, prepared for the worst.

 

Melody ran her fingers through her blond hair nervously, “He let a water snake into the bathhouse” she told him. 

 

“ _ Deodamnatus _ ! Again?”  Melody had given him a sympathetic smile before ushering him on his way. And now Alec was here, walking down the via principalis towards the third cohort’s barracks. Whenever Jax caused trouble, whenever he skipped lessons or pulled pranks, Alec was the one called in to deal with him. Partially because Jax had vouched for him at his first muster, tying them in a bond of debt and tradition, and probably because no one else wanted to deal with the troublemaker. At least, that's what Alec privately thought. The bond was a troublesome thing, normally the voucher would be the one responsible for the newbie's actions, but in his case it was the other way around. Alec knew the traditions as well as anyone else but he still didn’t understand why sponsorships were so important to Romans. Couldn’t he just forget about Jax? Sure he had vouched for him, but sometimes Alec wished that Jax and the rest of the camp would just let him forget about it. 

 

He rounded the final turn and walked towards the front steps of his own, (and unfortunately Jax’s)  barrack. The dark haired boy was sitting on the second step, back to the railing and legs stretched over the rest of the staircase. He just hated the way Jax was sitting there without a care in the world, like a lazy cat soaking up the sun and completely ignoring him. 

 

Alec stopped in front of him, but Jax didn't even bother to look up, “So you let another snake into the baths,” Jax glanced at him, his wild, dark hair flopping in his eyes like it always did. Jax’s eyes were really distracting, they were all silvery and cloudy, and he had such a piercing stare. 

 

“Hey Al, what’s up?” His grin might've been innocent if there hadn't been a smugly knowing gleam in his eye.

 

Alec snorted, “you know  _ what’s up _ , you just can’t give me a break can you?” 

 

Jax snorted and pushed his bangs out of his eyes, ruffling his mess of wild cowlicks even further. Possibly nothing on this earth annoyed Alec as much as the fact that Jax almost _never_ brushed his hair, but somehow always looked fine. It was like he rolled out of bed with stylishly messy curls. It just was not fair. 

 

Jax finally got up, reminding Alec of another bothersome trait: his height. Jax had always been a couple inches taller than him, but now it was just downright ridiculous. How was he supposed to be taken seriously at 5 foot 3, when facing a gods damned 5 foot 11 giraffe.

 

Jax looked down his nose at the much shorter boy with a raised eyebrow, “Sorry mr. Centurion, I’m just keeping things interesting. Plus it was a rubber snake.” He smirked once more and started off. 

 

Alec could have sworn that he’d winked at him. He was so flustered that Jax had made it a few yards down the road before Alec thought to stop him and had to shout to make himself heard. “Hey! You still have the matter of a punishment to deal with!” 

 

Jax stopped and looked back at him, “And what are you going to do that someone else hasn’t already tried?” It was true, Jax was as slippery as Mercury, god of thieves. He always managed to outsmart his punishments, find some loophole that allowed him to complete his task with less than half the effort. 

 

Alec huffed and had to jog to catch up. He glared up at the son of Fauna, he always made Alec feel so small and dumb. His confident smirk said, “you may think you’re in charge, but I will always be three steps ahead.” Alec stopped and bluntly said, “Two weeks on armor polishing duty.” He turned promptly on his heel and stormed off in the other direction. 

 

He could feel his scowl deepen and color rush to his face as he heard Jax call out after him “Now that’s just cold!” with a laugh.


	2. The Best Lain Plans of Fauns and Men

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jax's perspective yay! Jax hates armor, and has a faun best friend named Jerry (no I could not think of a better name, yes I like this one). Sorry its a short one :' )

Jax _loved_ it when Alec got all flustered. It was so funny when his face flushed all pink, making the freckles across his nose stand out in sharp relief. Pushing the centurion’s buttons was like 50% of the reason for his constant pranks. Plus the idea that this uptight centurion was more than  _half a foot_ shorter than him was downright hilarious. Jax could just see how much it bothered Alec.

 

He laughed to himself as he slowly made his way over to the armory. He wasn't dragging his feet, but he wasn't going to go rushing towards punishment either. Sure polishing the armor wasn’t so hard, as far as Roman discipline went it was lighter than most options (He'd heard rumors that some kid had gotten sewn into a sack of weasels and dumped in the river once), but it was really boring. And Jax particularly hated being bored. Besides, the more creative the centurions thought they were getting with his punishment, the easier it was to outsmart them. However, this did leave him plenty of time to contemplate his newest prank ideas.

 

Jax loved his little pranks and tricks, he never did anything bad enough to hurt someone, but a few times he’d come close. It was a thin line to walk, the line between truly wild and just uncivilized, but he loved the thrill of it. Over the last few years his pranking had become more often and more destructive, at first it had been little things, maybe once every few months, but as time went on he had gotten bolder and much more inventive. Did it have anything to do with his friends moving on from him and becoming law-abiding stiffs? Maybe, but that was fine with him, he preferred the solitude, it added to his dramatic flair. He was the official wild child of the legion, Mercury kids aspired to be him, the justice godlings quivered in their iron-tipped boots at his name. And it was a reputation well-deserved.

 

Jax remembered his first big prank, about a month after Alec was named Centurion, he had somehow managed to attach some firecrackers to the head table of the dining hall during dinner. Not enough to burn someone but enough to make quite the spectacle, and scare the braccae off of the centurions and praetors. It had been pretty great. What hadn't been so amazing was the talking to he got from Praetor Reyna in the aftermath. If anyone in the legion scared him, and not many did, it was Reyna. She was freaking terrifying.  

 

He could clearly remember the stern, cold look she had given him, the warning that his harmless antics could spiral into something much worse if he lost control. That would never happen of course, but it had hurt at the time. He’d also been put on kitchen duty for a month, he'd thought his pruney fingers would never look normal again.

 

Jax entered the armory and shooed away a few Lares having a hushed conversation near the door. They shot him disdainful looks but dispersed anyways. The Lares had never liked Jax, and the sentiment was shared. At first he'd thought they were cool, but as the novelty had worn off after his first couple of weeks at camp he'd quickly learned that they weren't very interesting after all. Unless you liked hearing about "the good old days" and how to properly do things "the true Roman way". Plus they were nosy, but snooping was easy when you could walk through walls and turn invisible. Plus, being a ghost must've been pretty boring, unable to really interact with the world around you, it was a little bit sad actually. Though you wouldn't get that impression from the Lares at camp. Mostly they were just stuffy and condescending.

 

Jax watched the last of them float away disinterestedly, then made his way down the aisle between racks of armor. The camp armory, with its long aisles and identical metal racks displaying various weapons and pieces of battle armor always looked a little like a post apocalyptic Walmart. Jax passed a row of swords, and another of quivvers and bows. Everything a young demigod needed to wreak mass destruction. Most of the really interesting (dangerous) things were kept in a more secure warehouse, one Jax couldn't break into despite his best efforts. He would never do anything intentionally dangerous of course, especially not put pink powder dye on all the flaming arrows to make them trail flamingo colored fire, never ever. (Unfortunately this particular prank was still in the workshop phase). Finally he made it to the back wall, where lazy legionaries often left piles of dirty equipment that made a convenient punishment tactic. He glanced over at the huge pile of rusty shields and helmets piled three feet high in the corner, this was going to take a while.

 

...

 

“Stupid armor, why’d you have to get so rusty?” Jax kicked a helmet he’d spent fifteen minutes polishing back into the large pile as the dinner bell rang. It wasn’t like he was missing anything, he’d eaten earlier and he wasn’t in the mood for war games. He crossed his arms and pouted dejectedly, he mostly just didn’t like to think about everything he might have been doing instead of this, and he was tired of polishing shields. In fact he was just tired period. Maybe he could just rest his eyes for a second... 

 

It felt like only a minute had passed when Jax woke up suddenly, having drifted off. He jerked upwards into a sitting position to discover that he was lying in a small, grassy woodland grove. Trees surrounded him but golden sunlight trickled through their boughs, making the entire clearing feel light and warm. Springtime buds of every color bloomed on bushes and small animals scurried in the underbrush. The sounds of living things surrounded him and the entire grove radiated a fertile sort of energy. A particularly large oak tree stood directly in front of him. It was obviously ancient, judging from size. The trunk was so wide around that it would've taken three times Jax's wingspan to wrap all the way around it. The sight of the tree seemed odd for another reason as well, seeing as it was the only oak in a forest of redwoods. In the branches of the tree perched birds of every color and size, woodpeckers next to eagles next to tropical parrots, most of which were not at all native to California.

 

Jax sighed, he knew this place. This was his mother’s domain, Fauna goddess of spring, animals, and the wilderness. In addition to this outdoorsy title however, she was also a goddess of witchcraft and foresight. In the old days she'd even gift her followers with prophetic dreams. And apparently being her child meant an automatic membership to the oracular insomniacs of America club. So Jax got dreams, He saw all sorts of things: snatches of the future, present, or past. Sometimes he even got a prophecy, though these ended up more garbled than most of the things he saw.He'd heard that this was a rare gift, that he should learn to control it and use it to benefit others, but he really didn’t want to be anyone’s mouthpiece. Plus, all the stories he'd ever heard about prophecies were that they were inescapable death sentences more often than not, and anyone who tried to avoid them had ended up  _causing_ the events of the prophecy, sort of a catch 22.

 

Besides Jax had only ever told one person about his power: Praetor Reyna, when he'd first come to camp, and she didn’t exactly trust him with her legion’s future. Well that was just fine, Jax had zero interest in becoming some freaky human magic 8 ball. The future could bite him for all he cared. Seriously, the last guy who tried to interpret prophecy in the legion had been crazy Octavian, the augur who'd tried to start a war and then been launched into the sky by one of his own onagers. Jax wanted no part of _that_  mess thank you very much. 

 

But he still got the dreams, every time he closed his eyes it was the same story, some new nightmare and waking up in a cold sweat. New jumbled images of death and destruction and madness plaguing his mind and seared into the insides of his eyelids. No matter what Jax's opinion on the matter was, the dreams were inescapable.

 

Jax was finally distracted from his spiraling thoughts by a rustling sound coming from the bushes behind him. He turned and a cream-colored hare hopped out of the underbrush, then sat up on its haunches to regard him, it’s charcoal eyes surveying him with eerie intelligence. All in all, he probably should have been more surprised to hear it speak.

 

“Son of Fauna” It had a low bass voice, strange coming from a fluffy bunny. “Beware the advice of enemies, follow the sun to the east and seek counsel from your greatest foe.” Jax frowned at the lagomorph, raising a single unimpressed eyebrow. True to his contrarian nature, he felt compelled to say that the sun traveled west across the sky, and that he’d rather not meet his greatest foe. Instead he stood and brushed off the knees of his jeans, intentionally ignoring the rabbit, which was still watching him. However, the creature was not finished, “Heed this warning, the gift of prophecy is necessary to your success, and if you let the darkness quell your flame, all will be lost.”

 

Jax just rolled his eyes and placed his fists on his hips,“Okay, and what in the name of Jupiter’s holy underwear is that supposed to mean?”  But the dream was already fading, swirling like someone had unplugged the drain of the bath and all the precious water was dripping away. Frustrated, Jax tried to cling to the picture, but it swirled disorientingly before his eyes, denying his demands for answers.

 

As the trees spun around him he saw flashes of different times in their shadows. Dark smoky rooms, half blurred faces, menacing shapes moving through inky forests of thought. Voices, discordant and layered, called for his attention. They swirled around him, confusing him, trying to find purchase in his already too crowded mind. Jax fell to his knees under the burden, he could still feel the muddy ground of the clearing under him, but the images in his mind wouldn't sync up with reality.

 

The voices all around called out to him at once, tried to whisper things to him. They grew frustrated and violent when they realized that he couldn't hear them. He wouldn't listen. He couldn't, he couldn't lose his sanity to them. Ice cold fingers curled out of the shadows and grabbed at him, attempting to tear him apart. Jax clutched the sides of his head, trying to maintain his grip on the present. He couldn't even tell if his own screams were a part of the cacophony of noise surrounding him. Faces swam in his vision. One particular face cleared up, a man, standing over him, with his face drifting in and out of focus. Suddenly he became much clearer, like switching to high-def, and as sharp as the steel blade he held poised over Jax’s nose. His mouth was pinched and thin, his eyes bright and cold. He smiled, but it was twisted and cruel, he tilted his head to the side to regard Jax briefly. Then he plunged his arm downwards and Jax's vision went black.

 

Jax woke with a start and sent armor flying everywhere, a helmet crashed into someone and they muttered, “Ow man that hurt.”

 

“Jerry?” Jax recognized the voice of his friend, but apparently night had already fallen and the armory was now pitch black. It was disorienting, and Jax floundered in the dark, searching for the source of the voice.

 

“Hold on, I’ve got some glow sticks here somewhere,” The crackling sound of plastic and chemicals filled the room and a faint green glow revealed Jerry the faun holding  fist full of cheap glow sticks. “Hey dude I just wanted to see if you meant to pass out on a pile of shields or…” Jerry shrugged.

 

Jax smiled and shook his head, calmed down a bit now that he could see, “terrible timing as always Jerry, but it’s good to see you.” Jerry, like every faun, had the lower body of a goat mixed with the upper body of a man, his curly horns and wispy goatee completed the look. Fauns were pretty much harmless and they hung around the fields of camp Jupiter for the safety. They had a reputation as lazy, irresponsible, and they liked a good laugh, basically they were Jax’s type of people. Or goats. They liked him too because his mom was a nature goddess, they said he smelled like the wilderness. He often wondered if that was faun-code for saying he smelled like crap.

 

Jerry was cool though, he was always a little more chill than some of his counterparts, more willing to help his friend rather than skip out when trouble came around. His goat-fur was the color of mahogany and so was his hair, he wore plastic sun glasses and a lime green tank top with a picture of a tree on it. Jerry shook his head and his glasses tilted precariously on his nose, “You had another dream, didn't you dude? Just go with what it’s telling you man, I’ve been reading up on this Daoism thing and it’s all about just going with the flow.” Jax confided almost everything to his best friend, including some of his more disturbing nightmares. However, he'd never told Jerry that more often than not his dreams came true. The faun didn't need that kind of stress, he was already worried enough. Jax could see it in the faun's brown eyes when he looked over the tops of his glasses. 

 

He shrugged, “Thanks Jerry, but I have it handled, just another demigod dream.” Jerry gave him a disbelieving look. "I'm fine." Jax reiterated, smiling despite the fact that his heart was still racing from the images of the nightmare.

 

But Jerry still frowned, "You don't smell fine." 

 

Jax scoffed and rolled his eyes, "How many times have I told you that thing you do where you sniff out my emotions is super weird?" All fauns had an incredible sense of smell, to the point where they could even detect changes in mood based on subtle chemical shifts. At least that was what Jerry had told Jax, he still wasn't fully convinced that it wasn't just magic. 

 

"How many times have I told _you_ that it's dumb to try and hide how you're feeling from your best friend who can smell emotions?" Jerry replied, he was still trying to look stern, but there was an underlying hint of humor in his tone.  

 

"Touché." Jax smiled, and though he knew Jerry was still concerned, his friend was willing to let it go. He knew better than anyone that if Jax didn't want to talk about something he wouldn't. 

 

So Jerry shrugged, letting go of the topic “Whatever, you mind if I finish off the granola bar in your back pocket?”

 

Jax laughed and tossed it to him. “You can smell food from a mile away” He stood up and stretched, he may not have let on to it but that dream bugged him. Following the sun east? Enemies’ advice? What did it even mean? He’d been having that particular dream on and off for a month now, and it was rather disturbing. He wished it would just go away.

“Oh man," Jerry looked up from his snack (which he was eating with the wrapper still attached), "I forgot why I was looking for you. I heard a few Lares talking about a senate meeting going on tomorrow, something about a quest? Dunno man just thought you’d be interested.”

 

A quest? That definitely piqued Jax's interest. What would it be for? He knew as well as everyone else that something was going down, the centurions were all abuzz trying to keep something secret. Of course this was the fastest way to let the entire legion know that something was wrong. Could it have something to do with his dream? Jax frowned, “Thanks Jer, you know when?”

 

Jerry shrugged uncertainly “Like 4ish?”

 

Jax nodded, maybe he could plan something, but first he’d have to figure out how to sneak into the senate building in the city. A challenge for sure, but nothing he couldn’t handle. “Okay, thanks for the intel, now I just have to enact plan ‘Sneak into Senate House’.” He rubbed his hands together and grinned evilly. He'd come up with a better plan name later.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character Fun Fact of the day: Jax loves to snowboard and has been doing it forever since he basically grew up on the ski mountain where his dad worked.  
> Alec loves horses and western riding, he actually barrel raced competitively a little bit when he was younger.


	3. Quests and threats: the life of a demigod

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alec is a good bean, Frank bakes muffins, and Reyna adopts too many younger siblings. Seriously, first Nico, then Hazel probably, now this kid, Reyna you have a problem. (JK we need more older sister Rara in this world)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jeez im soooooo sorry this is so late, I had to re-edit this chapter THREE goddamn times since my computer kept failing me. I promise I'll start posting regularly eventually guys. Eventually. Maybe. Anywho enjoy this, it is laced with my blood, sweat, and tears, so many tears.

Alec stretched lazily as he watched the sun climb the skies. He was definitely a morning person. He loved watching the sun rise and it’s light touch the golden hills of Berkeley. He inhaled the fresh air and surveyed the camp, his mind on last night’s war games. As always it had been the first and second cohorts versus the rest of them, the fourth had gotten the honours of stealing the colors last night but he was proud of his legionaries. They had fought well. Maybe they could try a new assault next time. He was getting ready to jog back down into the valley when he heard someone clear their throat behind him. 

 

“Morning Centurion, kindly tie your shoelaces before returning to the valley. That’s it, double knot.” 

 

“Good morning Terminus.” Alec smiled at the animated marble statue after straightening up. Alec liked the god of boundaries, no matter what the others said. Plus border gods always knew the juiciest gossip. Sure he could be fussy, but for the most part Alec could respect his rules, he had his own set that he didn’t like being crossed after all. Besides, his father being a god of oaths they got along well enough. 

 

“Yes yes.” Terminus said tersely, he'd never been one for small talk “I  thought you should know that Centurion Samantha is waiting for you in the Via Principalis to discuss strategies for war games. Right there, see where I’m pointing?” It was fairly hard to see where Terminus was pointing seeing as he was just the marble head and torso of a man and had no arms. However it was best not to mention that as he was rather sensitive about the subject.

 

“Thanks for the heads up.” Alec replied briskly.

 

“Of course, now do tell Praetor Reyna that she needs to call the senate meeting before 4:00, it’s imperative that she knows this.” Terminus nodded off to the side, as if checkin items off on his mental to-do list.

 

“Okay” Alec was a little confused but had learned better than to question the OCD god. 

 

Terminus dismissed him with a final nod, “Good, run along now.” 

 

“See you later Terminus!” Alec started off on his trip back down to the camp. Senate meeting? What was that about, there hadn’t been an announcement, and they'd had one just a few weeks ago. But first he had to deal with Sammie. His fellow centurion and one of his best friends, Sammie could be fierce. If Alec inspired duty in his soldiers, she inspired downright fear, with the commanding presence of a drill sergeant. Her twin sister Melody and she could not have been more opposite, despite them being almost completely identical. Melody was a healer and Sammie was a warrior. Melody was soft-spoken, kind, and compassionate, and while Sammie was kind, she was certainly not quiet. She could beat almost anyone in a fight, and she was so fiery that even the most seasoned soldiers dared not cross her. But underneath all that she was a loyal friend and a good leader. Her’s and Alec’s styles complemented each other, they worked well together. He'd known her forever and at this point they were practically siblings. Sammie certainly had the embarrassing photos to prove it. 

 

Alec finally reached the Principalis and came to a stop next to the blond-haired daughter of Apollo. “Let me guess, you just got back from a run or something,” she sighed, “how do you do it? No one should be awake that early!” 

 

“What can I say,” Alec shrugged, “I like to rise with the sun.” Sammie just smirked in response, face dimpling around the small birthmark just under her cheekbone. It was one of their little jokes, both being children of sun gods. They looked so much alike that people joked about Alec being Sammie and Melody’s long lost triplet. Though people who knew them long enough noticed the subtle differences, both of the girl's’ hair was slightly darker, their eyes were a warm brown color instead of his own pale blue, and neither of them had his face full of freckles. 

 

Alec stretched, “So what did you really want to talk about?” 

 

“Well,” Sammie took this as a cue to jump right into business. “I was thinking for next week’s games we should try a frontal assault paired with a turtle defensive formation.” She hardly needed to explain her thinking, Alec knew enough to trust her plans and only offered his input here and there. 

 

“Should I lead the frontal or you?” He asked, he already knew what her answer would be of course, but it was good to ask. 

 

“Me, obviously” she replied with a smile, “you’re better at defense anyway.” 

 

They talked for about a half hour before Alec had to break away from their conversation. “Hey, I need to go talk to Reyna, Terminus said something weird about a senate meeting today.” 

 

Sammie gave him a confused look, “There’s no senate meeting scheduled for this week.” 

 

“I know,” he replied with  shrug, “but Terminus is almost never wrong about this sort of thing.” So he walked back down towards the end of the Via principalis. He knocked on the door that led to the Praetors’ offices and opened it hesitantly when he heard the reply. The second Alec entered the room he was almost knocked off of his feet by Reyna’s two metal greyhounds, Aurum and Argentum. Aurum licked his hand excitedly, which sort of hurt since it was made of metal, and Argentum headbuted his knee in a friendly way until he scratched behind the silver dog’s ears. "Hi guys" he cooed to them in a higher pitched voice. Alec loved dogs, and even though these were technically automans, they had the lively energy of any puppy. 

 

“Hey Alec,” praetor Frank smiled up at him from behind a pile of paperwork. Alec smiled in return. Praetor Frank was a pretty great guy, he'd been one of the seven prophesied demigods that had helped save the world from Gaea and her giants two years ago. Some new campers were intimidated by him, but Alec knew better. Because in addition to fighting monsters, Frank liked to bake muffins for people's birthdays with his girlfriend Hazel (another of the Seven). Alec knew Hazel a little better, but he still liked Frank.  

“Alec, what can I do for you?” Reyna stood up from behind her desk and walked over, patting Argentum as well. “Praetor” Alec saluted formally. 

 

Reyna’s mouth quirked upwards in a small, amused smile, “You don’t have to do that every time, I’ve known you for well over three years now.” 

 

Alec’s bright grin showed through his formality, “Yes but it’s only right.” 

 

She shook her head but dropped the point, “Let’s walk, I have to meet some of the Lares for a brief talk in a while and it would do me good to get some fresh air.” She turned back to address Frank still sitting at the desk, “You’ve got this covered for now?” 

 

Frank nodded and smiled, “Go ahead, I can manage.” 

 

She stepped out onto the road and breathed in the fresh air, Alec followed. “How are your reports?”

 

“Complete” Alec said simply. 

 

Reyna nodded and smiled, reaching up to ruffle his hair from behind. "hey," he complained, "I'm not one of your dogs." Reyna just shrugged, unfortunately she'd picked up the habit from Sammie after seeing how fussy he got when people messed with his hair, he had enough bedhead as it was thank you. But with Reyna it felt more amiable and older sisterly, so he couldn't really complain 

 

Alec shook his bangs back out and continued, “That’s not exactly what I wanted to talk about though.” Reyna looked him over quizzically. Alec really liked talking to her, he had looked up to her ever since joining the legion, and since he’d become a centurion she’d taken some interest in him as well, acting almost like a mentor. He often helped her with reports and she asked his opinion on certain topics. He enjoyed feeling like his input was valued and loved getting to know more about the inner workings of the legion. Alec wanted to be the best he could be, and to him that was synonymous with being the best roman he could be. Besides, he trusted Reyna, she was one of the only people he felt that he could rely on anytime. He knew that she’d always keep whatever he told her in confidence, and she never looked at him any less for it. “Terminus told me to carry a message to you,” He said once he had caught up to her brisk strides. 

 

“You could have just sent someone else,” She raised an eyebrow, “but I’m guessing you had a reason?”  Nothing got past this praetor. 

 

“Yes, he said that it was vital for you to hold the senate meeting before 4:00 this afternoon, but that’s a bit silly because there’s no senate meeting today and-” Alec almost bumped into Reyna as she abruptly stopped walking. 

 

“You’re right. There’s no senate meeting today.” Alec couldn’t put his finger on it but Reyna spoke quite strangely, her tone a bit clipped.

 

“Well yes, but I just had this feeling, and Terminus never confuses dates so,” he shrugged. Reyna pursed her lips and stared out over the city of New Rome, she looked to be in deep contemplation about something. After a moment she seemed to make up her mind and ushered Alec down a new street, heading away from the hills and towards the city. He once again had to catch up a bit, Reyna had always had a very precise way of walking, sometimes catching him off guard. 

 

They made it all the way to the main road before she explained “You are aware of our current situation, yes?” Alec simply nodded, as of late the legion had been experiencing... trouble with communications. They hadn't heard from outside allies in months, they hadn't recruited any new demigods, and using mortal technologies was now impossible rather than just extremely difficult. They were completely isolated from the outside world and it was starting to get to all of them. The senate was especially concerned about an attack, they were vulnerable in their lack of information, and without sure proof of a threat, all they could do was sit and wait, something demigods weren't very good at.

 

Reyna continued her thought, “Well apparently it's much worse than we believed. I was finally able to receive communications from Rachel Elizabeth Dare,” 

 

“the Greek oracle?” Alec confirmed, he'd never met her personally, but had heard all sorts of rumors and stories about her future telling powers. 

 

Reyna only nodded, “she was able to get a letter through the mortal postal system but even that didn't include much information as she was concerned about interception.” Reyna frowned ever so slightly, “Some of their campers have gone missing, they seem just as isolated as us, and worst of all the powers of the oracle of Delphi seem to no longer be active, so they can’t send out a quest to find out what's going on.” Reyna let this sentence hang for a moment while Alec processed. “There's some sort of approaching threat and we cannot count on any further word from our allies, our situation seems to be worsening by the hour, we are in desperate need of information.” She paused when they heard Aurum growl, but it was only a squirrel in the brush. “I have also received what I believe to be a warning from my mother in a dream.” 

 

Alec felt his eyes widen “Woah”. they paused at the final hill leading into the city, just shy of the Pomerian line. 

 

“Yes,” Reyna nodded. “These are indeed serious threats if the gods have had to make such an open effort to speak with us.” It was very rare for any demigod to receive a message from their godly parent at the best of times, and meeting them was a dream harbored only by a few hopefuls. The gods were powerful, and didn’t have time to attend their kids’ t ball games. Reyna looked off, her eyes uncharacteristically unfocused. “I was warned that a quest must be undertaken and that the demigod chosen would have to go to San Francisco, and find the palace of the sun to begin their journey.” She shook off the dreamy expression and focused on Alec once more. “I’m not exactly sure what it means but I believe the questor would have to retrieve valuable information of some sort. However the vision was frustratingly vague.” A crinkle of annoyance had formed between Reyna's brows.

 

Alec’s mind was racing, his thoughts going at the speed of bullet trains so that he could hardly hear what she had last said. “I could go!” The words flew out of his mouth before he had time to think on what he said. “You said it needed to be one demigod, I’ll go quickly and be back in two or three days. Besides, the palace of the sun sounds like my father, I might have the best luck at getting the info.” Half of Alec was practically buzzing with excitement, here was the perfect opportunity to step up and help protect his home and friends. The other half wanted nothing more than to take back his hasty words, impulsiveness was no virtue, and you couldn’t just volunteer for quests. 

 

But Reyna looked like she was actually considering his words. “You do have a point, but sending you alone seems needlessly risky. I still would like to confer with the senate.” 

 

“It would only take a few days, and besides I’ll travel faster on my own.” 

 

Reyna still seemed hesitant. “It _would_ be good to have the information before our quarterly meeting.” Alec had almost forgotten, today was the fifteenth of september, which meant that the autumn equinox was only a week away. Sending a quest out before an equinox seemed ominus, and timing like this often had some greater meaning. Omens of this sort would normally have been interpreted by an Augur or priest but the legion currently had neither. “We’ll put it to a vote, be ready Alec.” With that and a small quirk of a wary smile, she headed into the city, but not before calling back, “Tell the other centurions about the meeting. I’ll see you at 4.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character Fun Fact of the day: 
> 
> Alec's birthday is the 8th of September making him a Virgo
> 
> Jax is a Sagittarius born on the 12th of December


	4. A Questing We Shall Go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jax sneaks into the senate meeting, showcasing his REALLY GOOD impulse control

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is short, sorry :( More to come as always!!!

Jax eyed the line of approaching officials from his vantage point behind a bush about halfway down from the crest of the hill between camp and New Rome. Senators and centurions in bedsheet-esque togas passed by Terminus one by one on their way into the city. They all had to go through this little security checkpoint before meetings, just to avoid a repeat of the whole "Caesar getting stabbed" thing. Knowing the demigods this precaution was probably a good idea. 

 

Jax stuck his tongue out halfway as he considered his situation. The senate building was always locked from the inside during meetings, if he wanted to get in he needed to slip in behind the centurions. Jax knew that he’d need to time this perfectly. If he was too far behind the senators, he’d be unable to get into the meeting, if he went to quickly he’d be spotted and caught for sure. He stayed hunkered down in the bushes until he was sure that last of the officers had cleared the crest of the hill and were now out of sight. Then he leapt up and sprinted over to a tall oak tree, part of the way between two statues of Terminus. He couldn’t let the border god see him. Normally the fussy statue would have no trouble sensing someone sneaking about but Jax could do some rudimentary nature magic. Mostly shielding, camouflage and tracking, but these spells alone were enough to ensure a clean getaway on most occasions. In this case however, his advantages wouldn't be enough. He still needed to be let across the border by someone on the other side.

 

It was a good thing he had a man on the inside, or really, a girl on the inside. “Hey Julia!” he hissed, hopefully she would hear him. He waited for a few seconds before finally seeing the child’s curly pigtails pop around the other side of the tree. "Hi Jax!" She grinned a gap-toothed smile at one of her favorite big kids and skipped over.

 

Jax smiled in return. He loved this little gremlin. Julia was Terminus’ assistant and she had a mischievous streak a mile wide, she reminded him of himself when he was little. When multi-colored band-aid were a fashion statement and the most important event of his week was when his dad let him watch scary movies on Saturdays.

 

“Hey Julie," He said, "how ‘bout letting your favorite 15 year old across the border?”

 

Julia hummed thoughtfully, tilting her head to the side and raising an eyebrow in a way that suggested, ‘And what’s in it for me?’.

 

“I’m planning something really excellent, but I need to get in quick before the senate meeting starts.” He explained in response to her non-verbal question.

 

She nodded and looked around furtively before grabbing his shirt and pulling him across the Pomerian line. “Thanks kid, I owe you one.” He ruffled her hair and moved to walk on but a small hand stopped his progress. She yanked once more on the edge of his shirt and extended her hand, "up up up, my payment?"

 

"Learned a new word in kindergarten did we?" Jax raised an eyebrow but Julia was unmoved by the sarcasm. She had an oddly official look in place, probably parroted from Terminus. 

 

“Okay fine, geez. You’re worse than the fauns kid!” Jax rolled his eyes but handed the little girl the brownie in his pocket. Even first graders had their price. Julia just smiled and waved him on happily as he continued down the road, keeping his eyes peeled for the counselors that had passed by just minutes before.

 

...

 

Finally Jax made it to the senate building, he crouched low against the wall as he waited for all the officials to file in. A group of Lares floated right through the walls. Jax stuck his toe in the closing door just as the last senator swept past. He entered silently and hunkered down behind some of the seats in the very back row of the crescent shaped auditorium. He might not be able to hear very well from back there but at least he wouldn’t be discovered by any low-floating ghosts. He could vaguely hear praetor Zhang calling the meeting to order, but he couldn’t make out any more than a distant murmuring as the senators in front of him began whispering to each other. Jax fought the urge  to spring up and shush them, they really needed to be more considerate. How was he supposed to eavesdrop with all the whispering? Thankfully they quieted down after a moment and he was able to hear a little better.

 

Jax shifted his lanky legs and tried to find a more comfortable position. His knee was currently digging into his stomach in a way that made him glad he’d skipped breakfast that morning. He strained his ears to pick up the tail end of what Praetor Reyna was saying. “-hopefully to return before the quarterly meeting on the equinox.” Jax hoped that he hadn’t spent all this effort just to hear the centurions talk about the meeting in a week. What a waste of time. What he really hoped to hear was what was going on in the outside world? He knew that something was up, it was obvious that the praetors were hiding  _something_. He just needed to know if it had anything to do with his most recent dreams. There had been an uptick in the frequency of one specific nightmare and he wanted to get to the bottom of it, if only to satiate the gnawing urge in his gut to  _fix_ things.

 

Curse his misguided sense of duty. Why couldn't he just lead a normal life? Well, normal by demigod standards. Just training at camp, goofing off, doing war games. Sleeping through the whole night without some ominous proclamation of doom. That would be nice.

 

The next voice that spoke up came from a little further back, probably one of the centurions. “Why send just one questor? Wouldn’t it be better to send three like always?”

 

A quest? That was definitely more interesting, but who was going? What was the goal? How did it relate to his prophecies?

 

The gears started turning in Jax’s head, and he was so enveloped in his thoughts that he almost missed Praetor Frank’s reply, “In the interest of speed we’ve decided that it would be fastest to send only one questor. "Centurion Reyes is uniquely qualified since he would presumably be seeking information from his father. And we're confident that since this would be such a short journey that it would be faster to send him alone.”

 

So Alec was going? Why did all the most boring people get the most exciting jobs? 

 

Apparently others had their own doubts as well. "Centurion Rayes has never even  _been_  on a quest, let alone lead one. Should we really trust him to complete this task all on his own?" an unfamiliar female voice asked. There was some dissenting murmurs around the rest of the room now that this point had been brought up. Judging from the volume and variety of tones the feelings of the crowd were split fifty fifty. 

 

Praetor Reyna, probably sensing this, announced, "I personally chose Centurion Rayes for this mission, had I not thought him capable, I would not have picked him." There was a brief stretch of silence at this, not even the most aggressive of the senators wanted to take Reyna head on.  

 

Suddenly someone new piped up “It makes sense for Alec to go,” That was probably Sammie, the other centurion of the third cohort. “I think it’s a good idea, as of right now we know next to nothing and if what the Greeks have told us is true then we’re going to need all the information we can get.” There were murmurs of agreement from the rest of the crowd. Sammie had always been persuasive.

 

Jax considered what the counselors had said, there was going to be a quest, Alec was going to be in charge of it, he would be trying to find information about some unknown threat they’d been warned about by the Greek demigods. He began to retreat farther into his own thoughts as the senators and centurions argued back and forth about the details. Some little voice inside Jax's mind nagged at him, he felt like he should be going on this quest, but he knew that Alec would never take him along. What fun would a quest with the most uptight boy in the world be anyway? Why should he be the one risking his life to clean up someone else's mess? But that little feeling still gnawed at him, like a magnet pulling him along. He knew he needed to be a part of this quest. Jax huffed, he felt a bit like a pouty little kid but he couldn't help it. This just wasn't  _fair._  "Hah." He scoffed under his breath. Since when was his life fair?

 

His mind drifted back to the dream he’d had the night before. It certainly wasn’t the first time he’d had it. He could clearly remember what it had said about impending doom and a journey to be undertaken. At least he knew what the journey part meant. He hated those dreams, they always nagged at him, staying in his brain and begging to be puzzled out. Mostly he could ignore them, but every time he closed his eyes they would come right back to him. Sometimes they warned him of coming disasters, sometimes he saw visions. A few of the visions he’d seen had left permanent marks on his psyche, especially from when he was younger. Most of those older nightmares had long ago faded away but he still had the dreams. Sometimes they weren’t so bad but mostly they were filled with death and destruction. Jax snapped out of his thoughts when he realized that he’d been so distracted that the meeting was already ending. He waited as the centurions were dismissed and kept low as the counselors and senators filed out of the building. He was forced to wait until the last ghost left the room before he could stand and stretch, joints popping from being forced to stay in one position for so long. Jax knew what he needed to do, but that didn't mean he was going to like it _.  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all know what time it is!  
> Character fun fact of the dayyyyyyyy
> 
> Alec literally cannot lie, he's so bad at it. It might be because his dad is god of oaths, but he just acts so weird. He is that meme when someone says "ACT NATURAL" and he just, pretends to be a lamp.
> 
> Jax has the most shitposting sense of humor you've ever seen. He is a meme lord, he knows all the vines. Someone stop him.

**Author's Note:**

> So I got REALLY deep into creating these OCs and I can't fit everything I came up with into the story... So I'm gonna do fun facts about some of the characters at the end of each chapter! (I just really love my boys) 
> 
> First fun fact of the day: Alec grew up just outside of Odessa Texas, and yes he used to have an accent (not anymore though, it faded with time). Jax grew up in Truckee California, which is a small town in the Sierra Nevada mountains. 
> 
> Also some notes about their parentage: Alec's dad is Sol, the original god of the sun. Sol was like the Roman Helios, but with a few notable differences being, he was a god and not a titan, he was a LOT more important to the culture. Sol wasn't just the guy who drove the sun chariot, he was also a god of oaths and honor and had been around since shortly after the founding of Rome. Aeneas even married into the sun god lineage, and a lot of his demigod kids were notable figures, (think Circe). Eventually Apollo took over sun-godly duties when the greek mash-up occured, but scholars argue about that a ton. Anyways, maybe he's just retired in the PJO universe? At least, that's what I think happens.  
> Jax's mom is Fauna, a rather morally neutral goddess of the wild, specifically the animal kingdom. Her twin sister, Flora, reigns over plants and such. She's either the sister or daughter of Faunus (roman Pan), sources argue. She has this duality to her nature, being a goddess of both the wild forests and the domesticated animals. She was certainly a mysterious goddess, and her circles of influence also included healing, witchcraft, and foresight. Her priests were known to commune with her (as well as other gods) and catch glimpses of the future and sometimes prophecies in their dreams. If you can visualize it, she's a bit like if you mashed Pan and Hecate together with a healthy dose of oracle. She has no greek counterpart.


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